


Nightmares

by ObsessedFandomNerd



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Wizards (Tales of Arcadia)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Douxie-centric, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fear, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Literal Sleeping Together, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28593735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedFandomNerd/pseuds/ObsessedFandomNerd
Summary: An old mind remembers many, many things.And those things are harder to forget.
Relationships: Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Claire Nuñez, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Merlin (Tales of Arcadia), Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Morgana | Pale Lady, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Zoe, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan/Zoe
Kudos: 20





	Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> As always, please enjoy.
> 
> No, there is no compensation for emotional damages.

Douxie looked down at the sticky, blue Slorr milk slowly oozing across the floor, surrounded by shards of shattered glass. Merlin glared down at him.

“Really, Hisirdoux? Unable to successfully complete even the simplest task of fetching the Slorr milk. Such a disappointment.”

Douxie dropped to his knees and began frantically gathering up the glass shards.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “It was an accident! I was only trying to help.”

Merlin’s gaze hardened.

“‘Trying to help?’” he parroted, “I have no need for  _ your _ help. I am Merlin Ambrosius, master wizard of Camelot.  _ You _ are only a poor child of the streets. Taking pity on you was the biggest mistake I ever made.”

With one last cold glance, the old wizard turned to go, striding off into the darkness.

“Master!” Douxie called, reaching out a desperate hand as if  _ somehow _ he could pull him back,  _ reason with him, _ “Master, wait!”

But the man was already gone, consumed by the inky shadows edging in around the boy.

He turned back to the glass shards to find them gone, clean, cold stone in their place. He rose to his feet to chase after his master, but stopped upon hearing a low chuckle. He turned to see none other than Merlin’s other apprentice, Morgana, sitting at a small table, elegantly sipping from a delicate china cup. If he weren’t so intent on following his master, he might have laughed at the irony.

“You’ll never be as good as him, you know,” she said, setting down her teacup with a small  _ clink, _ “No matter how hard you try you will always be the worthless orphan boy cheating strangers with cheap tricks.”

Douxie fought the gnawing urge to back away, to run, to  _ find Merlin, _ and instead took a step towards her.

“That’s not true!”

Morgana rose from her chair to float before him.

“Isn’t it, though? Tell yourself as many reassuring lies as you’d like, but know that you will  _ never _ be worthy of the title of Master Wizard. Inside, you will always be a scared, familyless little boy. Alone. Abandoned.  _ Unloved. _ ”

This time he did recoil.

“No,” he said, “No! No, you’re wrong!”

She began to cackle. And cackle.  _ And cackle.  _ The harsh, soulless tones reverberating in his skull. He clasped his hands over his ears and screwed his eyes shut.

_ Make it stop! _

As soon as the cackling had started, it was over. He opened his eyes. There, mere feet from him, stood Claire, clad in her spiked armor. He breathed a sigh of relief and made to run to her side.

“Claire! Thank goodness-”

Then, with a sharp yelp, she was gone, sucked into a shadow portal of her own making.

“No!”

He raced to the spot where she had just stood.

“No. Claire, not again!”

He raked a hand through his hair. There had to be a way to bring her back!

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

“Douxie!”

He spun around.

“Claire! I’m so glad you’re-”

But she wasn’t there. He spun in a full circle.

“Claire! Claire, where are you?”

He spun in a circle once more and tried to peer into the inky darkness surrounding him. It was to no avail.

“Douxie!” called Claire’s voice, “Why didn’t you teach me better? Why didn’t you  _ help me? _ ”

He frantically spun this way and that, trying to pinpoint the source of her voice in the abyss of black.

“I’m sorry!” he called, “I failed you. I know I-”

Her voice cut through the darkness once more, this time accompanied by Merlin’s.

“Why didn’t you save me?”

He kept spinning, eyes desperately raking the encroaching shadows.

“Why didn’t you save me?”

This time Morgana’s voice joined them. He kept spinning.

“Why didn’t you save me?”

More voices. Arthur. Lancelot. Jim.

“Why didn’t you save me?”

He covered his ear with his hands, but the words and voices kept repeating their mantra.

_ “Why didn’t you save me?” _

\---

Douxie sat bolt upright in bed, thundering heartbeat much too loud in the silence of the dark room. His breath came in quick, shallow puffs and his hands shook where they gripped the blanket. His eyes darted around the bedroom, shadows taking on the forms of his lost companions. As he stared, their words echoed in his head.

_ “Why didn’t you save me?” _

His spine crumpled as he whimpered, tears spilling over and dampening the sheets in his lap. He tried to stifle his sobs, but instead they grew louder, lungs heaving from their intensity.

Beside him, Zoe stirred, roused from a deep slumber by the sudden noise. She turned towards her bedmate, rising up on one elbow and rubbing her tired eyes with the other.

“Doux?” she said. Then, “Douxie!”

Immediately, she was at his side, pulling him to her chest and rubbing calming circles into his back. He latched onto her tightly, fisting the fabric of her shirt where his hands met her shoulder blades, wet patches quickly forming on her sleeve.

“Hey, hey. Ssh, ssh,” she soothed, moving one had to slowly stroke through his hair as the other patted gently at his back “Take deep breaths. In and out. In…”

She breathed in deeply.

“...And out.”

She released the breath slowly, loosening her hold ever so slightly, encouraging him to do the same.

Slowly, his wretched sobs turned to soft shuddering, his grip on her slowly slackening by degrees. Eventually, his arms fell from her shoulder to lay loosely around her waist as she continued to stroke his hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she whispered.

He drew in a long, shaky breath.

“It was a nightmare…”

And so he told her of his horrible vision of his departed loved ones and their cruel words, as many as he could remember, stray tears occasionally leaking from his eyes.

“I should have tried harder,” he said, words thick in his throat, “I could have saved them. I could have-”

“Hey.”

Zoe cut him off and moved her hands to cup his face, drawing his eyes up to meet hers.

“Douxie, look at me. You did everything you could to save them, but sometimes even  _ everything _ isn’t enough. But know that they are  _ not _ mad at you. Merlin, Arthur, Morgana… They would all be  _ proud _ of everything you did and of how far you’ve come.”

Her eyes brightened.

“And think of who you  _ did _ save! Claire and Jim.  _ All of Camelot! _ You have saved so many people, Doux. More people than could possibly thank you even in  _ your _ lifetime.”

She swiped her thumbs under his eyes to clear away the few lingering tears.

“You really mean that?” he sniffed.

She leaned up to press a kiss to his forehead.

“Of  _ course _ I mean it! You, Hisirdoux Casperan, are a true hero who is loved  _ so much _ by his great, big, crazy family of randos and demon slayers.”

She brought her gaze down to look him firmly in the eye.

“And we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”

She smiled warmly at him, hands still firmly against his cheeks, palms able to detect the small smile of his own that pulled across his face. Douxie reached out to wrap his own arms around her, pulling her into a tender embrace. She returned it in equal measure as he nuzzled her neck, leaning to whisper against her ear,

“Thank you.”

She simply smiled and held him tighter, drawing him to lay back down beside her. She pulled the blanket up over them as he snuggled further into her chest, breathing in deeply her comforting scent.

“Now it’s time for both of us to get some rest,” she said, wrapping her arms more securely around him.

He responded in kind, tilting his chin up to place a drowsy kiss against her jaw, before settling back in against her side.

“G’night,” he mumbled, sleep approaching fast.

She planted a kiss of her own on top of his head with a whispered, “Goodnight,” before drifting off herself, lulled to sleep by his now soft, even breathing and the steady rhythm of his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> I return from the void! This has been in my fanfic notebook since Zouxie week 2020, but I finally got around to posting it now! Hope you enjoyed! :)
> 
> And congratulations to everyone who got into the Douxie Zine! Can’t wait to see what you’ve made!


End file.
